Thursday, May 22

Unlike most kids out there, I remember my bus rides to middle school quite fondly. My buddy Brandon and I would trade CDs back and forth, introducing each other to new bands. I will never forget the day he brought me a copy of Green Jelly’s “Cereal Killer.” If you are not a child of the 80s, you probably do not remember this comedic band. Green Jelly, whose rotating cast of members included Maynard James Keenan of Tool, infused their heavy metal sound with ridiculously goofy stories and deranged comic book album covers.
The designers at Icon have created a helmet that would work perfectly as part of the artwork for a Green Jelly reunion album. The Icon Airmada Sensory Helmet is the newest graphic in the Airmada lineup. The Portland-based manufacturer of motorcycle apparel is releasing some of the wildest helmet designs in the industry and the Sensory Helmet pushes that envelope even further.

The body of the helmet is made up of what looks to be green slime with multi-colored eyeballs swimming in the mess. The mass of slimy eyeballs meets the visor of the helmet with pink gums baring a solid row of jagged yellow teeth. If all of this madness is not enough for you, turn off the lights and watch as the eyeballs glow in the dark.

Underneath the Icon Sensory graphic lies a standard Icon Airmada helmet with an intermediate oval shape produced using four different shell sizes and five different dual-density liners. The Airmada is a lightweight DOT- and ECE-rated helmet available in sizes ranging from XS to 3XL.

Although some of Icon’s designs are a little too wild even for me, this one hits a nostalgic nerve. While writing this, I actually dusted off my old copy of Cereal Killer and blasted titles like Three Little Pigs, Electric Harley House (of Love), and Obey the Cowgod at full volume through my stereo speakers (much to the dismay of my neighbors). In the same way Green Jelly can create an album so bad it is timeless in its own right, Icon can create unnervingly odd designs that are so weird they are actually cool.